


Keeping a Secret in the Burrow

by FloreatCastellum



Series: Slice of Life One-Shots [39]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Companion to the secret diary of hugo weasley, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, I really didn't mean it to be so long, Pregnancy, Teddy's Pov, This was intended to be a drabble, Unplanned Pregnancy, unrelenting fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-19 03:51:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19348930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloreatCastellum/pseuds/FloreatCastellum
Summary: Vic has some news for Teddy, and it sends him into a panic. Unfortunately, it's when the entire family is trapped in the Burrow for Christmas.Someone on Tumblr requested The Secret Diary of Hugo Granger-Weasley from Teddy's POV, and I really didn't intend it to be this ridiculously long but it just kept coming and it was so comforting to write.





	Keeping a Secret in the Burrow

‘I’m just saying, we’re both out of school, he knows she comes and stays over at mine now and then, there’s no need to keep us separated…’ 

‘It’s about perceptions though, isn’t it, Ted?’ Harry said calmly. ‘The amount of kids about.’ 

Teddy resisted snorting dismissively. ‘Harry, even for The Burrow I think we could acknowledge modern times and accept the fact that even unmarried couples-’ 

‘Ssh,’ said Harry, glancing over at Hugo who was skulking nearby. ‘Look, Ted, if you’re so unhappy with the situation you can go and talk to Bill.’ 

Accepting that this was not the hill to die on, Teddy merely looked his displeasure at his godfather and wandered off. He didn’t mind babysitting the horde of Weasley and Potter children, but it would have been a lot more fun with Vic in the same tent. 

Not that she was being particularly fun today. He thought she was maybe on her period, an thought that came to him with a hefty helping of guilt as it felt rather sexist to presume. But she was acting all distant and grumpy with him - his hello kiss had essentially been a presentation of her cheek, which was unusual for her even with her dad nearby. 

Perhaps she was getting nervous about the internship starting after Christmas. Fleur had suggested it, and Bill had pulled the strings, and though Teddy tried very hard not to assume it was to keep them apart, the idea of Vic spending an entire year in Paris was daunting to say the least. Her being at Hogwarts had been hard enough, and then they’d only had one precious year of her being out of school, bouncing between Shell Cottage and his poky flat he shared with two other blokes. Now she was being whisked away for a year of working for the Gringotts Paris branch. 

What if she wanted to stay? Teddy’s French lessons with Fleur seemed very long ago now. The idea of following her out there was thrilling but also utterly terrifying - he wasn’t sure what it would be like, not being able to just show up at his grandmother’s or the Potters’ whenever he felt like it. January seemed very close, and he wasn’t even allowed to spend these precious few weeks with Vic in the same bed.

He sat next to her at dinner, but she was vague in her replies and so moody looking that he swiftly gave up trying to engage her in conversation at all. He wondered what it was that he had done. 

‘Teddy, I saw your book in Flourish and Blotts yesterday,’ said Hermione, smiling proudly. ‘And I saw the reviews have been good too!’

‘Yeah, I just need it to make a bit more money,’ he said, grinning. 

‘I’m sure it will pick up,’ said Hermione warmly. ‘Or you can simply write another.’ 

‘Yes, that simple,’ he said, laughing. He thought he saw Vic looking at him strangely out of the corner of his eye, but focused solely on Hermione’s thoughts on the book, enjoying her unending compliments. 

‘And the character of Adam - so Harry.’ 

‘What?’ said Teddy, frowning as he grinned. ‘No-’

‘Absolutely. I could hear his voice the whole time.’ 

‘Harry - did you think this?’ 

‘What?’ 

‘That Adam, in my book-’

‘Oh, that you nicked my best lines? Yeah.’ 

He turned to share an amused grin with Vic, but she was staring sullenly at her food, chewing slowly. 

‘Can we have a chat?’ she whispered to him, under the noise of everyone rising as the meal finished. ‘In private? Get rid of the kids.’ 

His heart plummeted. He was sure he was going to get dumped. This was it. She’d decided that while she was in France she may as well see what else was out there. Someone else, who had used their good school grades to get a job rather than become a tortured artist on the poverty line. He could hardly blame her. 

‘Sure,’ he whispered back. He helped clear the table, his head swimming a little. You can save this, said a voice in his head that sounded a bit like Harry. You can offer to go with her, or get a proper job so you can afford to visit more often. You’ll get down on your knees and beg if you have to. 

Erm, no, said a voice that sounded more like Ginny. Don’t do that. 

The adults retired to the living room, the kids out to the tents - they were being extremely annoying, a post-dinner burst of energy and an excitable glee about them all being gathered together like this, and they hassled him to change into Voldemort. 

‘Go on,’ James was saying. ‘Give dad a scare. That was funny when he stunned you.’ 

‘Aren’t you a bit old for this sort of thing?’ Teddy asked him. But the rest of the children were shrieking and shouting too, eager to persuade him, or make their own requests. 

‘Look, look!’ he shouted. ‘How about hide and seek, yeah? Vic’ll be my trusty Death Eater and I’ll come round and find you all. Garden only, no magic, James is forbidden to use his cloak.’ 

‘And you’ll actually look like him?’ asked Fred suspiciously. ‘I’m not playing if it’s bog standard muggle rules, you’ve got to add an element of danger.’ 

‘Yeah, sure, whatever.’ He glanced over at Vic, and to his relief saw a faint smile. ‘Right, me and Vic will count to one hundred, all right? Ready, set, go!’ 

The kids pelted off in all directions; Teddy made a show of closing his eyes and counting loudly. He waited until he could no longer hear the rumbling of feet, and opened his eyes. Vic was standing beside him, her eyes screwed shut as well. 

He trailed off his counting and touched her elbow - she jumped slightly. For a moment, they just stared at one another, he nervous, she looking as though she were afraid. 

‘Are you leaving me?’ he asked. 

She blinked. ‘What?’ 

‘Please don’t.’ 

‘Get a grip, Ted.’ 

He felt a little offended. ‘What am I supposed to think? You’ve been all weird since you got here, and then you effectively say “we need to talk”, it doesn’t take a genius.’ 

‘No, clearly not,’ she said. She glanced around the garden - the bushes had stopped rustling as all the kids settled into hiding spots. ‘Let’s get in one of the tents,’ she said quietly. ‘Come on, before they start trying to look.’ 

They headed into the girls' tent, and Vic sat down on the little wicker sofa, picking at the faded pink cushion immediately. Ted sat opposite her, his insides still twisting with a curious dread. She was breathing quite hard, her lips moving as she pressed them together, twisting a tear in the cushion around her finger. 

‘Vic?’ he prompted. 

‘I…’ she sighed. ‘I’m just going to come out with it.’

But she stayed silent. ‘All right?’ he said slowly. 

‘I think I might be pregnant,’ she blurted out. 

He stared at her. He waited for the punchline. 

It didn’t come. 

‘OK,’ he said, more calmly than he felt. ‘Why do you… What makes you think that?’ 

‘Well, as of yesterday, that’s the second period I’ve missed.’ 

He took a breath, and found that it was rather shaky. ‘Right, but you haven’t done a test or anything?’ 

‘I’ve also been throwing up.’ 

‘You might just be very nervous about moving to Paris-’

‘Teddy,’ she said firmly. ‘Don’t pretend we’re always spot on with taking that potion.’ 

He squirmed. There had been numerous, irresponsible times where they had ended up falling asleep, taking it several hours later in the morning, or realising they had forgotten all together. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘there’s no point worrying until we know for sure. I can sneak away and get a test for you tomorrow, all right?’ 

She nodded, but her eyes were welling with tears. ‘Yes. All right.’ 

They both sat in silence for a moment; Teddy felt a little dizzy. His mouth was dry, but he had to ask, he had to… ‘What… Er… What would you want to do? If you are, I mean…’ he trailed off quietly, but Vic just continued to stare at him with her large blue eyes, filled with tears. ‘Because whatever you choose, I understand,’ he said firmly. ‘And I’ll… be there,’ he said awkwardly, terrified of pushing her in either direction. 

‘I don’t know,’ she said at last. ‘I just… I don’t know. I keep changing my mind.’ She looked at him desperately. ‘What do you want?’ 

He swore under his breath. ‘Vic, don’t-’

‘It’s fair to leave the decision entirely to me!’ 

‘Of course it is,’ he spluttered. ‘It’s your choice-’

‘But I need to know what you want,’ she insisted. ‘I’m not saying I’ll do it, but I need to know.’ 

He looked away, down to the floor of the tent, feeling the panic swirl around his chest. On the one hand… A family. A family that was just his, a blood relation to him. And he was good with babies and kids, he knew that, how could he not be after how he’d been brought up, by an entire fucking village it felt like, always eager to get him to babysit or entertain the squabble. That cliched orphan panic about whether he would be a good father or not had never concerned him, and it didn’t concern him now. 

But. But, but but… The royalties from his book were bringing in just enough for him to live in a small room in a flat shared between three of them. The likelihood of writing the next bestseller everyone went mad for and gave him enough money to raise a child within the next few months were slim to none. He could get a job, he supposed, although he had laughed with Vic many times about how the thought of wearing a suit and being forced to wear his hair a natural colour filled him with horror. 

But then poor Vic too, on the cusp of an exciting new career, about to move to an exciting new place, and oh sweet Merlin, her father.

Bill had always been kind to him, always been an excellent uncle figure, always fond of him - until the bloody article from the Quidditch World Cup came out, and since then he’d been remarkably frosty towards him. Vic was the oldest of the proper Weasley kids - she’d been doted on, treasured, spoilt. She was the baby and no one liked to admit she was an adult, because it made them feel old. Harry said part of it was also probably to do with the fact that Bill had been exactly the sort of teenage boy he was now terrified of, which Teddy always found unfair because he was never like that. Except clearly, now, he was. 

He sighed heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose. ‘I don’t know, Vic. I don’t know - I do want that with you, but I always assumed it would be in a few years.’

She seemed to swallow, and nod. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Me too.’ 

An abortion seemed like the most logical thing to him. On paper. They could try again in a few years, when it made more sense. 

‘We’ll talk about it more when we know for certain,’ he said. ‘Try not to worry.’

‘You’ll get the test tomorrow?’ she asked desperately. ‘You can get away easier than I can, my parents will notice if I go-’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘It’s all right. I’ll get it.’ 

She dabbed at her eyes and shook herself slightly. ‘We should go back into the house, show our faces.’ 

‘Yeah,’ said Teddy. ‘I could do with a stiff drink and all.’ 

‘I’d better hold off,’ she said with a weak smile, and he smiled weakly back but wished she hadn’t said it, because that just complicated things. 

They walked slowly from the tent back into the house, quietly making plans for how Teddy could sneak away tomorrow and not be spotted, and what the cover story could be if he was. They could hear uproarious laughter from the living room as they approached, and Teddy checked Vic’s face for her to make sure it didn’t look like she’d been crying before they entered. 

All the adults (as Ted and Vic always called them, although they were adults too now) were in hysterics over something George, who was stood with one elbow on the mantlepiece, was saying. Harry, shoulders still shaking, grinned up at them. ‘All right, Ted?’ 

‘Yeah,’ said Teddy. ‘Came to see if there was any firewhiskey going spare.’ 

‘Course,’ said Harry, and he flicked his wand at the bottle which poured out a new glass. ‘Want one, Vic?’

‘No thanks, Uncle Harry,’ she replied. 

Harry glanced behind them. ‘It’s oddly quiet - where are the kids?’ 

Teddy froze, and he was sure Vic had too. He had counted down from one hundred and then left several children to hide outside, in the dark, in December, completely forgetting to then do anything about it. ‘Er…’ he said. 

The rest of the adults were looking at them now too. ‘Victoire?’ Fleur asked. Vic just looked at Teddy, her mouth slightly open in their shared panic. 

‘Teddy?’ asked Ginny warningly. 

‘I… Sorry,’ Ted said. ‘I’ll… Go get them.’ 

‘Yes, but where are they?’ Harry repeated. 

‘I’m… I’m not sure. They’re all in the garden,’ he added hastily, as several horror-struck faces stared at him. ‘I just, we got them to play hide and seek… And we sort of forgot to look for them,’ he finished lamely. 

There was a long silence. ‘Excellent seeking, kids,’ said George. ‘Skills like that, you could play for the Cannons.’ 

‘How did you forget to look for them?’ asked Ginny, baffled. 

‘Yes,’ said Bill darkly. ‘What have the pair of you been doing since dinner, if not looking for them?’ 

‘Talking,’ said Vic quietly. 

The silence was so awkward that Teddy drank his firewhiskey for something to do, but that only made it more awkward really. 

‘George,’ said Angie, ‘why don’t we go and round the kids up? Get them in the warm.’ 

George saluted her and followed her out of the room, giving Teddy an amused grimace as he did. 

‘Victoire,’ said Bill brusquely. ‘Let’s have a word. In the kitchen.’ 

‘I think we should have a word too,’ Harry told Teddy. ‘Upstairs.’ 

With an apologetic look at Vic, who looked furious, Teddy followed his godfather up the stairs - he distinctly heard snorts of laughter from the remaining adults as he left. 

Harry led him into one of the bedrooms, and closed the door, waving his wand over it so they wouldn’t be overheard. Teddy immediately launched into his defence. ‘Look, I’m not a kid anymore, I’m not going to be hauled off and lectured-’

‘Ted,’ said Harry wearily, leaning on a dresser. 

‘Vic and I are both adults, we never agreed to be the resident babysitters - James is fifteen, he’s old enough-’ 

‘James?’ said Harry, looking baffled. ‘He’s fifteen on paper, Ted, but I’ve always wondered if we got the dates wrong, you can’t seriously think he’d be responsible enough to-’

‘Either way, I’m too old to be told off like a naughty school child,’ snapped Teddy. 

‘You are,’ admitted Harry. ‘That’s not what I’m doing.’ 

‘Oh,’ said Teddy, disconcerted. 

‘I’m just asking you to have a bit of subtlety.’ 

Teddy stood there, with his turquoise blue hair and inability to walk into a room without knocking anything over, and raised an eyebrow. 

Harry was clearly trying to bite back a smile. ‘I’ve leapt to your defence a few times with Bill. Been quite… honest with him on occasion. He’s not stupid, Teddy, he knows you’re adults, he knows Vic spends the night at yours, I don’t think he’s even opposed to it really. But forgetting the kids like that and swanning into the living room - rubbing it in his face, don’t you think?’ 

‘We weren’t,’ said Teddy firmly. ‘Vic was telling the truth, we were talking.’ 

‘OK,’ said Harry. 

‘We were!’ 

‘I believe you,’ said Harry. ‘But it’s about what I said earlier - perceptions.’ 

‘Bill’s feelings,’ said Teddy grumpily. 

Harry laughed. ‘A little bit, yes. And Molly and Arthur too, Vic is their granddaughter, don’t forget, and this is their house.’ 

‘We were only talking,’ said Ted sourly. ‘We just needed the kids away to talk, and we just forgot.’ 

‘Is everything OK?’ Harry asked quietly, his hands in his pockets. 

‘Yes,’ lied Teddy immediately. 

Harry didn’t look like he believed him - his green eyes were boring into Ted’s in that way that always made him feel like he was seeing right through him, right into his brain, but eventually he just nodded. ‘All right. You know, you don’t have to supervise the kids if you don’t want to. You’re right that some of them are old enough now - I just never thought you minded.’ 

‘I don’t, really,’ said Teddy wearily. ‘I usually enjoy it, we just… Wanted to talk.’ 

‘Well, if you wouldn’t mind continuing. During the nights at least - I don’t trust James and Fred not to set the place on fire, and someone needs to make sure Hugo’s not getting a rough time of it. Al and Scorpius probably need someone keeping an eye on them too.’ 

‘Yeah, fine,’ said Teddy distractedly.

‘Don’t worry about them during the day or evenings though,’ said Harry gently. ‘Just come and be with us.’

Unfortunately, it sounded like Vic’s conversation with her father had been far less diplomatic, and had ended on her insisting that she be allowed to sleep in the Burrow. She had apparently expected Teddy to do the same. 

So he returned to the chaos of the boy’s tent alone, slouching on the bed and sullenly wondering whether Vic was pregnant, and, if she was, what the abortion potion would be like. When would she take it? It would have to be over the Christmas period, when it would be impossible, surrounded by so many people, for him to comfort her properly. He would have to encourage her to talk to her mother, it was only right. He felt utterly exhausted. 

‘Teddy,’ came a pompous voice. It was Hugo, looking as infuriated as usual. ‘How am I meant to sleep in this racket?’ 

Teddy cast an eye over the tent. James was demonstrating the haka he had seen the New Zealand Quidditch team do, the wireless was blaring, Fred and Louis had the exploding snap out… Al and Scorpius seemed to be the only quiet ones. 

He couldn’t be bothered to be diplomatic, so he just yawned. ‘You know what, Hugo, if you’re tired enough, you’ll find a way,’ he said.

The next day, Teddy rose early, walked out of the Burrow boundaries, and disapparated to Diagon Alley. He changed his appearance to be as generic as possible and bought a pregnancy test, which he irritably thought was more expensive than it really needed to be. However, Bill seemed to be doing such a good job of keeping them separate, that all he could do was briefly whisper ‘got it’ as they helped decorate the tree. 

‘Don’t give it to me yet,’ she said. ‘I want us to do it together.’ 

So it wasn’t until the next day, in the afternoon, that they were able to slip away, hiding in the garden shed among the various contraptions Arthur was fixing up. It wasn’t a particularly romantic place, Teddy thought, but he tried to find the beauty in the low light slipping through the gaps of the wood, and the dusky old gas lamps that lit as they passed. 

He handed her the potion bottle, which she uncorked, and transfigured a nearby splinter of wood into a needle. ‘Ready?’ he asked her. Her lips pressed tight together, she nodded. 

He pricked the tip of her pale, slender finger, and she immediately held it over the rim of the potion bottle. The blood dripped down and swirled like smoke. 

They didn’t have to wait long at all before it turned a brilliant, pure white. 

He looked up from it and stared at her. ‘Well,’ he said. 

‘Yes,’ she said faintly. 

‘Now we know.’ 

‘Yes.’ 

‘We should tell-’

‘No, no not yet. Please. Let’s… figure out what we’re doing, first.’ 

They had known it was coming, both of them, but the news still felt shocking. Teddy felt like he had been battered round the head with it. But somewhere, beneath the wondering panic, he felt for the first time a glimmer of excitement. 

‘Vic,’ he began, ‘I was thinking, we could-’ 

The door banged open - Vic immediately pocketed the potion, and just in time too. Bill’s furious, scowling face glared at them. ‘What are the pair of you doing, hiding in here?’ 

‘Talking!’ Vic yelled. ‘Look, we’ve still got our clothes on! Happy?’ 

‘Come and talk with the family!’ Bill insisted. ‘I told you the other day about sneaking off, about what it looks like - you stay right there!’ he roared at Teddy, pointing a finger as Teddy tried to slip away. 

‘We were just-’ Teddy began hesitantly.

‘What is your problem, Dad?’ Vic shouted. ‘I’m going to be nineteen in a few months-’

‘I don’t care how old you are, stop sneaking around where kids could walk in!’

‘You’re ridiculous,’ snapped Vic, and she stormed out, barging easily past her father and leaving he and Teddy stood alone in the shed. 

‘I-’

‘I don’t want to hear it, Ted,’ muttered Bill.

‘We were just talking,’ insisted Teddy, as Bill left the shed. ‘We deserve some privacy to talk now and then.’ 

‘A likely story!’ Bill shouted back over his shoulder. 

‘What is his problem?’ Teddy asked Harry furiously later that day. 

‘Oh, he knows he’s being unreasonable,’ said Harry dismissively, searching through the woodpile for the best logs for the fire. ‘Fleur’s tried to talk to him about it. I’ve tried to talk to him about it. George mocks him relentlessly for it.’ 

‘It’s not fair.’ Teddy gulped. ‘What is he so afraid of? What is he worried about? That I’ll… Get her pregnant or something?’ 

‘No,’ said Harry vaguely, rolling some of the logs onto the floor. ‘He knows you’re both sensible-’ Teddy’s stomach plummeted. ‘-I think he just wants to still be able to pretend that you’re both just teenagers we have to keep an eye on.’ Harry loaded a bunch of heavy logs into Teddy’s outstretched arms, who leant back slightly to carry them all. ‘We’re all very fond of the both of you, and unfortunately, due to the circumstances of your births, you both happen to make everyone feel very old.’ 

‘That’s not our fault.’ 

‘I know it’s not. And I don’t think any of us would have ever imagined Bill would be an overprotective dad - he wasn’t the type when he was a younger man, he’s never been one for convention. His father has never been anything like it either. Maybe it’s a bit of his mother, but even she wasn’t like this. It’s not about you, Teddy, or protecting Vic’s purity or any of that nonsense. You know he doesn’t mind Vic staying round yours.’ 

‘Yes, I know,’ said Teddy hesitantly, who would have been an idiot not to realise how much warmer Bill had been to him since Vic had finished school. 

‘He just doesn’t want to see it.’ Harry straightened up, his own arms now full of logs too, wincing slightly under the weight. ‘Ron’s a bit like that too,’ he said heavily. ‘Not so much anymore, but even though he was always very happy for me and Ginny, he’s always preferred us to be as un-coupley as possible in his presence. We were all young enough to just find that funny though.’

‘We’re not coupley though,’ emphasised Teddy. ‘I’m not snogging her across the dinner table or getting her to sit in my lap or anything, am I? We just need to talk in private now and then.’ 

‘Why?’ said Harry warily. ‘What’s so important that it couldn’t be discussed after Christmas? Or when she was round yours last week?’ He frowned at Teddy. ‘Are you breaking up?’ 

‘No!’ 

‘Well then. What’s wrong?’ 

‘Nothing’s wrong. We just want to be able to talk without the family listening in.’ 

‘They are rather a lot,’ said Harry fairly. ‘But Ted, it’s not for long, all right? Just try and hold off on the disappearing act for a little while, stop letting Bill’s imagination going into overdrive. Wait until she’s next round yours.’ 

Rather a lot was an understatement. Teddy was cornered by Hugo again that evening, who sat opposite him with a serious expression and asked if Teddy and Victoire were in love. 

‘Yes,’ said Teddy, hoping desperately that Harry’s warnings on perceptions were not relevant to Hugo’s newfound interest in his love life. 

‘Congratulations, Teddy, that’s wonderful to hear.’ 

‘Thank you, Hugh,’ replied Teddy, amused. 

‘I wondered if I might ask your advice?’ 

Oh bloody hell. ‘Of course.’ Please don’t ask me about sex. 

‘I would very much like to be in love, and I would like to know how you get someone to love you like that,’ said Hugo seriously. 

Teddy tried very hard not to laugh. ‘I see. Who are you interested in, Hugo? Perhaps I can help.’ 

Hugo, never one for subtlety, looked over at the girls, who were nearby, shrieking and giggling over feather boas. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he said. 

Teddy was almost disappointed. He had really been hoping for a distraction from the thoughts that kept swirling around his head, causing a tightness in his chest and a feeling of impending doom. He had to talk to Vic. That much was clear. Properly. In private. 

He waited until he was sure the rest of the tent was asleep, which took ages because he kept seeing Al and Scorpius shifting, clearly awake even if they were silent. Finally, he heard Scorpius’s light, rattling snores, and saw Al’s chest rise and fall in a slow rhythm, and he slipped out of bed. 

It was in the early hours by now, pitch black, and he was sure that if he caused any noise any one of the overly paranoid, quickly startled, war-traumatised adults would probably attack him without thinking. 

Concentrating harder than he ever had in his life on not being clumsy, he crept into the dark, quiet house, feeling his way along the dark walls and up the creaking stairs, wincing at every tiny sound, moving as slowly as possible. 

He reached the right door. This was the riskiest bit. This was the bit that was perhaps his Gryffindor father’s influence - brave but also incredibly stupid, just plain dumb, the sort of thing no Ravenclaw or Slytherin would ever consider. 

He opened the door with a quiet, long creak. The moonlight fell through the window directly onto Bill’s face. Teddy grimaced. On the floor by the bed, thankfully on her mother’s side, was Vic, sleeping on a camp bed. 

Teddy got down on his hands and knees and crawled. A part of him laughed and said, you fucking creep, they’ll wake up and think you’re going to murder them, but by this point he couldn’t see any other option, such was his desperation to talk to her. He crawled as silently as possible to her bed, and crouched level with her beautiful face. 

Sure that it wouldn’t work, he placed his hand over her mouth, and with the other, gently shook her shoulder. He saw her eyes flutter, then snap open wide as she felt his hand silencing her, but thankfully she didn’t make a sound, just stared at him wildly. 

He tried to give her an apologetic look, removed his hand and raised one finger to his lips, and then gestured for her to follow. 

He crawled back out of the room, his heart thudding, and made his way back through the dark corridors. He could hear her a few metres behind him, but he was still too scared to say anything out loud, so he hurried out to the orchard. 

Within minutes she was there too, shivering in her pyjamas, her arms folded. ‘What are you doing?’ she hissed at him. 

He embraced her, and hurriedly took off his own jumper to give it to her. ‘I had to see you,’ he said, as she pulled it on. ‘I’ve been thinking, about the pregnancy.’ 

‘Oh, have you?’ she said grumpily. ‘I’d almost forgotten about it.’ 

‘If you still want to have an abortion, that’s fine,’ he said. ‘I understand, and I won’t argue. But I want you to know that if you do decide to keep it, I… I’ll make changes, I’ll make sure we can do it. I’ll get a boring job-’

‘I don’t want you to get a boring job,’ she interrupted. 

‘I’ll be there with you, every step of the way.’ 

Vic started to cry. ‘I don’t know. I just don’t know. To keep it would be giving up everything.’ 

‘No, no it wouldn’t,’ said Teddy. ‘That’s what I’m saying. I’ll get the boring job. You’d have to delay the France thing for a bit, but then I’ll make sure you can still-’

‘Come off it, Teddy,’ she said, wiping at her eyes. ‘I’m sure everyone says that, that they’ll go back to that sort of thing later, when the kid’s old enough, how many of them actually do?’ 

He swallowed, and rubbed her back as she wept. ‘Then don’t, don’t give up your dream.’ 

‘It’s not my dream,’ she muttered. ‘It was exciting, the thought of it all, but it wasn’t my idea or anything, was it? Dad pulled all the strings without me asking him to. They’re just trying to… I don’t know… I want this. It’s just so huge.’ 

‘I know it is.’ He hugged her again, kissing her temple. 

‘I think I want to keep it.’ 

‘I do too.’ 

She looked at him; she seemed to glow in the moonlight. ‘I don’t want you to have to give everything up too,’ she said. 

‘Neither of us are giving anything up,’ he said firmly. ‘We’re just changing course.’

She nodded, and kissed him, and he wondered what would happen now. 

The next morning, Teddy began worrying properly. He had no real work experience, though his grades were very good. Would the few years gap be a problem? Plenty of people seemed to manage to walk into Ministry jobs straight out of Hogwarts, and he certainly had the connections. He’d be able to get something, surely, he’d just be a few years behind other people his age. 

He supposed if he save up enough he might be able to get a flat somewhere. Rented, of course, and it would have to be small. He could borrow the furniture he needed from family members - Harry and Ginny probably had a bunch up in the attic they didn’t need anymore. Vic would have preferred everything to be perfectly colour coordinated, he knew that. She probably had her ideal nursery design in her head right now. But that simply wouldn’t be possible. They would just have to manage.

As they were approaching lunch, Molly approached him, thin lipped and eyes narrowed. ‘Teddy, dear,’ she said, dangerously sweet, ‘would you mind helping me with the chickens?’ 

With a sense of foreboding, he followed her out to the coop, where they began scattering the bird feed. ‘I just wanted to know,’ she asked delicately, ‘why Hugo spotted you and Victoire sneaking around outside at gone three in the morning.’ 

Teddy nearly dropped the feed bucket. ‘S-sorry? I think he must be mistaken-’

‘Is that right, dear? Because I noticed at breakfast that she was wearing your jumper.’ 

‘I lent that to her ages ago,’ he invented wildly. ‘Really, I think Hugo must have been dreaming.’ 

‘I thought he must have been,’ she said carefully. ‘Because it was awfully cold last night.’ 

‘Yeah, it was,’ said Teddy without thinking. 

‘But of course, you were warm in the tent, weren’t you?’ 

‘Yep.’ 

‘I don’t need to ask Hermione to look at the heating in there, do I?’ 

‘No, I was too warm, if anything.’ 

‘Hmm,’ she said, and then she patted his arm. ‘Thanks for feeding the chickens for me, dear.’ 

The moment Teddy had finished, he stormed back to the tent, to see Hugo, lying in bed as though he were dying. ‘Thanks a lot, you little snitch,’ Teddy fumed. ‘What did you go and tell your gran for?’ 

Hugo looked at him, highly affronted, and in an irritatingly grown-up sort of voice, said, ‘I don’t think you’re really being fair, Teddy. The stress of it all has made me very ill.’ 

‘You’re not ill, you’re just tired! Go and have a coffee and get over it-’

‘I am ill! It’s my nerves.’ 

‘You’re not a widow from the seventeenth century! Get up! You’re just tired because you spent all of last night spying on people.’ 

‘If you’re going to treat me like this, I must insist on knowing what you were talking about in the orchard,’ said Hugo, in a dignified manner. 

Teddy panicked. He had assumed Hugo had merely seen he and Vic heading across the lawn. He hadn’t suspected that anyone might have followed them…

‘What did you hear?’ 

‘Nothing, it was very frustrating.’ 

‘I mean it, don’t lie.’ 

‘You kept whispering!’ 

‘You didn’t hear what we were saying?’ asked Ted, who thought that if Hugo had anything on him by now, he would have thrown it in his face. 

‘No,’ said Hugo, dramatically. ‘But I was up all night worrying about it, and now I’m ill.’ 

‘You are such a little liar - you’re just trying to blackmail me.’ 

Hugo really was very good at looking extremely offended. ‘Teddy!’ he said, in a shocked voice. ‘That’s not very Hufflepuff of you. It’s not kind nor in the Christmas spirit.’ 

Teddy rubbed his eyes. A headache was starting in his temples. ‘I will give you four galleons if you keep quiet,’ he said. ‘No poking around or telling anyone else about this.’ 

‘All right,’ said Hugo, sounding far chirpier. 

Vic managed to briefly corner Teddy later that evening. ‘We should tell my parents together,’ she whispered, as they pretended to search through a box of Christmas decorations. 

His stomach lurched. ‘Can we wait a bit?’ he asked. ‘Let me get a proper job first, so they know I’m trying…’ 

‘Oh, Teddy,’ she said tearfully. ‘Am I being selfish? You shouldn’t have to-’

‘You’re not!’ he urged. ‘I want this, Vic, I do.’ 

She opened her mouth to respond, but Teddy was suddenly hit on the back of the head by a bauble. 

‘Oi!’ James shouted. ‘I need someone allowed to do magic to come and help me with this.’ 

With a pained, apologetic look at Vic, Teddy turned away to go and help James enchant the Christmas tree candles. 

The next morning, everyone squeezed around the breakfast table while Molly dished up porridge, shouting across at each other as they planned a last minute shopping trip in London. Teddy was supposed to be listening to James, who was dropping anvil sized hints about what he wanted (‘I mean, I don’t think Dad is aware that it’s out, but obviously I can’t say anything to him about it…’), but he kept glancing over at Vic with nervous concern. 

She looked pale, and she was resting her face against her fist, leaning on it as though casually but covering her mouth and nose. She closed her eyes as a bowl of porridge, topped with banana and golden syrup, floated magically in front of her. Less than two seconds after it had landed on the table, she got up sharply, her chair scraping against the floor, nearly knocking over Dom as she stumbled hurriedly away. 

The table fell quiet as they heard her burst into the downstairs bathroom - her retching echoing. 

Fleur rushed after her, calling rapidly in French, with Molly hot on her tail. 

‘Oh no,’ cried Lily, looking extremely worried. ‘Is Vic not well? I hope she’s better for Christmas.’ 

‘I’m sure she’ll be all right,’ said George, frowning at the door Vic had fled through. ‘Probably just a dicky tummy.’ 

‘She’s been a bit under the weather,’ said Bill. 

Ted was staring at the door too, his chest felt extremely tight. He should have run after her, he knew that, perhaps that was why he could feel Harry’s eyes burning into him, and the guilt swelled up in him until he was having to concentrate very hard on stopping his hair turning mint green, looking back down at his porridge. 

As a result of that morning’s drama, Vic was instructed to stay at home while the rest of them went shopping. Teddy quickly gathered that it had not occurred to the Potter children that their parents might want Christmas presents too, so he offered to take them round Diagon Alley to Harry, who winked at him. ‘Don’t let any of them buy anything with me on the front, will you? They all think it’s funny, but I’ve got an entire box of miniature me’s and calendars and t-shirts with my face on that I don’t know what to do with.’ 

‘Throw them out?’ suggested Teddy. 

‘I can’t do that, my kids bought them.’ 

So Teddy trudged behind the excitable Potter children, half-heartedly telling James not to buy a Potterwatch mug, vaguely listening to Scorpius’s ramblings, his mind continuously floating back to his vomiting, pregnant girlfriend. 

He felt a small, warm hand grasp his, and he looked down to see Lily, beaming up at him. He smiled back. ‘All right, Lily? What do you want for Christmas?’ 

She looked shocked. ‘You haven’t got my present yet?’ 

‘Course I have. I’m just curious to know what you want.’ 

‘Well I shan’t tell you in case it’s different.’ She looked over her shoulder at Esther, who was looking through the window of Flourish and Blotts with Al and Scorpius. ‘Esther wants to get you something,’ she said. 

‘Does she?’ he said, taken rather aback. 

‘Yeah,’ said Lily. ‘She really fancies you. I told her that you’re too old-’

‘Yes, I definitely am,’ said Teddy, rather alarmed. ‘She’s what, twelve?’ 

‘She just thinks you’re really grown up and handsome. I told her that’s nonsense - you’re not grown up at all.’ 

‘Cheers,’ he said, his insides squirming slightly. ‘Anyway, I’m your big brother, am I not off limits?’ 

Lily sniffed. ‘I told her that too.’ She looked up again, her warm brown eyes narrowing. ‘But she reckons you and Vic are being off with each other. You’re not, are you? Everything’s OK, isn’t it?’ 

‘Course it is,’ he said, hoping his voice sounded breezy. ‘Why wouldn’t it be?’

‘You don’t seem very worried that she’s ill.’ 

‘Well,’ he said slowly. ‘I’m not. I know she’ll feel better soon. Everyone’s ill now and then, Lils.’ 

‘All the same,’ she advised him, sounding remarkably like Molly, ‘I think you should maybe buy her something nice to show you care. Not a Christmas present, something to cheer her up tonight.’ 

So, under her strict gaze, he scraped together the few sickles he had left in his wallet (why did Christmas always have to be so bloody expensive? Did he really have to have such a huge family? Couldn’t some of them be estranged?) and bought Vic a new hot water bottle. 

After a very long day of trudging the cobbled street and being pulled into every shop they passed, Teddy led them back to the restaurant they had all agreed to meet back at. Ginny, Hermione, George and Angelina were stood outside waiting, Rosie, Hugo, Fred and Roxy all slouching tiredly against the wall, but perked up when they saw the Potter children, and immediately started showing one another the gifts they had bought. 

Hermione was checking her watch. ‘I knew it,’ she said triumphantly. ‘I knew the boys would be late.’ 

‘Harry and Ron went to meet Neville at the Leaky Cauldron,’ Ginny said in an undertone to Teddy. ‘Just a swift one, they said. Two hours ago.’ 

Teddy snorted, and Hermione ushered them all inside. ‘We may as well go inside and join the others, I’m sure Harry and Ron will grace us with their presence eventually.’ 

‘Is Vic here?’ Teddy asked Ginny as they entered. 

‘No, we thought it would be best if she stayed home.’ She eyed him carefully. ‘Do you know what’s wrong?’ 

‘No, he said, determinedly looking ahead. ‘Probably just picked up a bug or something.’ 

‘There’s something going round, I suppose,’ said Ginny, even though he knew they both knew full well there wasn’t. 

Harry and Ron turned up when they were having their starters, slightly pink in the cheeks, to a chorus of jeers and light scolding. Harry hastily made a place for himself on the corner of the table next to Ginny, who Teddy was sitting opposite to, sheepishly apologising. 

‘I’ve already ordered you something,’ said Ginny, who sounded amused but was clearly trying to look irritated. 

‘Oh, cheers,’ he said happily, kissing her on the cheek. 

‘Dover sole and salad followed by mint choc chip ice cream sundae,’ she said smoothly. 

Harry nodded, grimacing through his smile. ‘Thanks, that’s great.’ 

Teddy bit back a smile, knowing full well that she had ordered the pork belly followed by treacle tart for him. Harry peered down the table to the far end, where his children sat chatting enthusiastically with the others. He glanced back at Teddy. ‘Were they good?’ 

‘Yeah, fine,’ said Teddy. ‘Although Lily informs me her friend has a crush on me.’ 

‘Aw, yeah, it’s so sweet,’ said Ginny affectionately. ‘I think she might have made you a Christmas card.’

‘Great,’ said Teddy wearily. 

‘Has she written a poem in it?’ Harry asked lightly. 

Ginny shot him a glare. ‘You’re on thin ice as it is.’ She turned back to Teddy. ‘I think she was very impressed with your book, you’re just going to have to prepare for more of that sort of thing if you’re going to be a renowned author.’ 

Teddy immediately lost his appetite, pushing the remains of his goat cheese starter around the little plate. ‘I dunno, might just leave it on that one book. Quit while I’m ahead. Do something else.’ 

‘What? Why?’ Both of them looked utterly bewildered. 

Teddy shrugged. What he wanted, more than anything, was to get them alone and have a bit of a meltdown and ask them what he should do. Or get them to get Nana to come back from her Christmas cruise so she got tell him off for his irresponsibility and then sort it all out for him. But so surrounded by the rest of the family and the noise of the restaurant and the person a few tables away who was doing a very poor job of hiding that he was taking photos of Harry, all Teddy could say was, ‘I dunno, just been thinking about it.’ 

Harry and Ginny exchanged a look, and Teddy knew that they would corner him later. He was saved from any more awkwardness when the main courses arrived, and Harry realised with an amused groan of relief that his wife had been lying about ordering him the fish. 

The next day, Victoire threw up again. This time, the adults muttered quietly about whether they should take her to St Mungos.

‘Vic,’ he whispered in her ear as she violently threw up into the toilet, ‘I can hear them out there - they want to take you to the hospital. We’re going to have to tell them-’

‘N-no,’ she moaned, her shoulders heaving. ‘Not yet…’ she vomited once more. ‘Y-you don’t want to tell them e-either…’ 

‘I’m not sure we have a choice,’ he muttered, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Fleur poking her head in with concern. ‘She’s all right,’ he said cheerfully, as she vomited again. 

‘It’s fine, I have an idea,’ Vic whispered. 

Teddy did not think her idea helped in the slightest. When she had stopped vomiting enough to come out of the bathroom and face the collected concerned adults, she informed them that the vomiting was due to extreme anxiety. 

‘Anxiety?’ said Bill. ‘What on earth do you have to be anxious about?’ 

Victoire took a shaky breath and, looking down at her feet, announced, ‘Dad… I don’t want to go to Paris. I want to stay here.’ 

‘What do you mean?’ he asked sharply, and all the other adults exchanged worried glances. ‘You’ve been really excited about it.’ 

‘I was, but I’ve changed my mind, and I don’t want to go.’ 

‘Mon cheri, you ‘ave just got nerves, you will love it when you are zere,’ said Fleur reassuringly. 

‘No, Maman. I really, really don’t want to go. And I’ve been nervous about letting you all down, but I mean it - I want to drop out of the program.’ 

Bill’s scarred face flashed with anger, and he jabbed his thumb at Teddy. ‘Don’t throw your future away because you’ve got used to the idea of living with him.’ 

‘Bill!’ said Harry sharply, but Bill rounded on Teddy. 

‘You’ve planted this idea in her head, you’ve asked her to stay!’ 

‘I haven’t!’ spluttered Teddy. 

‘Lay off him, Bill,’ snapped Harry, as Vic burst into tears. ‘Your daughter’s grown up and can make her own decisions, that’s not his fault-’

‘I don’t think it is her own decision,’ insisted Bill, turning back to his daughter. ‘What’s going on, Vic? What’s all this really about?’

‘Nothing! I just don’t want to work for the bank, and I don’t want to move to a different country away from everyone!’ Her voice was high pitched and shaky, and with hot, furious tears pouring down her cheeks, she pushed roughly past her parents and stormed off. 

Fleur sighed, and exchanged a glance, not with Bill, to Teddy’s surprise, but with Ginny, who gave a meaningful, dark sort of look back. ‘I will talk to ‘er,’ Fleur said, and she followed Vic out. 

Bill looked at Teddy again, but before he could say anything Harry had stepped swiftly between them and grabbed Teddy by the elbow. ‘I will talk to my godson,’ he said brusquely to Bill, pushing Teddy away. 

He took Teddy to one of the bedrooms, closing the door firmly behind him. ‘Well?’ he demanded. 

‘Well what?’ Teddy muttered, though he knew perfectly well what. 

‘Did you ask Victoire to stay here?’ 

‘No.’ 

‘Did you imply that she should?’ 

‘No.’ 

Harry was searching him with those piercing eyes again, and Teddy looked away. ‘I know you’re lying to me,’ said Harry. 

‘How?’ asked Teddy warily, worried that Harry could, in fact, read his mind. 

‘Because your hair has gone grey.’ 

Teddy swore and raised a hand to ruffle angrily through his hair, which had betrayed him yet again. As he shook his hand through it, he concentrated and returned it to a turquoise blue. 

‘Ted,’ said Harry loudly. 

‘She just doesn’t want to go anymore, all right?’ Teddy blustered. ‘And it’s not out of us being lovesick or anything - we were all right when I went traveling, weren’t we-?’

‘That was only a month,’ said Harry. ‘If the pair of you are worried about missing one another-’

‘It’s not about that,’ said Teddy, trying very hard to keep his voice calm. ‘You were right, what you said to Bill, she’s grown up and can make her own decisions and it’s not my fault.’ 

Harry raised his hand, rubbing at his forehead. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Fine. But don’t test Bill’s patience for a few days, all right?’

Teddy didn’t really need to be told this. He spent the rest of the day in a sullen, quiet worry. He barely felt like an adult himself, and clearly he wasn’t perceived that way by the grown ups. God, he even still referred to them as “the grown ups”... 

He barely tasted his dinner, he drifted through it in a daze, his mind whirring and spiraling, convincing himself that he was a child. Harry’s words floated through his head… I know you’re lying… 

Even when he went to bed, all he could do was uncharacteristically snap at the kids to be quiet and stare endlessly at the tarp ceiling of the tent, his heartbeat thudding around his brain, panic rising like the vomit that had risen up Vic’s throat, his realisation that if he was actually responsible enough to have a kid he wouldn’t be in this position anyway, because they would have remembered to take the bloody potion and not just shrugged it off when it slipped their minds. 

I know you’re lying…

Oh god, what if he knew exactly what the lie was? What if they all knew? 

He rolled off his camp bed and crept over to Hugo, crouching down by his snoring head. As he had done with Victoire, he placed his hand over Hugo’s mouth and shook him awake - he heard the squeal under his palm and the dark brown eyes widened in terror, but Teddy hushed him and none of the others stirred. 

Hugo made a muffled squeak that sounded something like ‘what on earth?’ and Teddy hushed him again. 

‘Did you tell anyone?’ he whispered urgently. Hugo’s eyes frowned in utter bewilderment, and Teddy remembered that if he wanted him to answer, he would have to take his hand off his mouth.

‘What?’ Hugo whispered back, furiously. 

‘Did you tell anyone about what you heard in the orchard?’ 

‘Of course not, I’m a man of my word you know-’

‘Because I understand it’s a big responsibility and I’m not trying to hide anything from anyone I just need to make sure that I’m sorted with a few things first and check she’s happy to, because obviously, it’s down to her, I just need a little bit of time, that’s all, just to make sure I can handle the responsibility-’

‘What on earth are you blathering on about?’

But by this point, Teddy was barely listening. The words were falling out of his mouth quite without permission. ‘Do you think I should get a proper job?’

Hugo gaped at him. ‘Being a writer is a proper job.’ 

‘It’s not,’ Teddy said helplessly. ‘It’s bullshit.’ 

Hugo looked rather affronted at the bad language, but was clearly trying to be grown up about it, and said, ‘well what kind of job do you think is a proper job?’ 

‘I don’t know,’ said Teddy blankly. ‘Something that pays more money.’ 

‘Well that’s all right, Teddy,’ said Hugo reasonably, as though he understood these things. ‘You got really good marks at school, and you’re Harry Potter’s godson.’ 

‘That’s not as helpful as you would think,’ Teddy muttered vaguely, briefly thinking of all the times he’d tried to get summer jobs and had the interviewer just try and talk to him about Harry the whole time. More talking to himself than Hugo by this point, he sighed, rubbing his jaw. ‘What sort of job do you think I could get?’ 

Hugo gaped at him, and seemed finally ready to admit he was out of his depth. ‘I don’t know, I’m thirteen. I haven’t got a clue. Why are you acting so weird? Don’t you have a godfather you can go and ask stuff like this to?’ 

‘You’re useless,’ Teddy snapped, though as he returned to bed he realised that asking a thirteen year old for advice wasn’t exactly the sort of responsible thing someone who was ready for children did. 

He did not sleep for the rest of the night, or if he did it can’t have been for long. He spent much of the next day unable to place his queasy feeling, unsure if it was exhaustion or sheer terror. It was harder and harder to keep his hair turquoise - people kept asking him what was wrong and he would realise it had slipped into sandy brown. 

In the early afternoon, he managed to corner Vic in the hallway, and he seized on the opportunity to whisper without Bill or Fleur or Harry or Ginny or any of the other grown ups lurking. ‘I was thinking,’ he babbled urgently to her, ‘we’re still basically kids-’

‘No, we’re not,’ she said, surprised. 

‘We are - they all see us like kids, don’t they?’ 

‘Who?’ 

He screwed up his face before he forced himself to say it. ‘The adults. The grown ups.’ 

‘That doesn’t actually stop us being adults ourselves, Ted,’ she said in a clipped sort of voice. She winced. ‘Have you changed your mind?’ 

‘I-’ Teddy’s mouth went dry. ‘No, I just-’

‘Look, I’m sorry if you feel you’re having to give up your life or youth or whatever, but-’

‘No, I’m not saying that-’ He felt something watching him, and by chance he glanced around and spotted Hugo staring at them, his stupid fucking diary in his hand. With a dark exchange of glances with Vic, they hurried away. 

To his great irritation, he felt like he was being followed around for the rest of the day, not only by the adults but also by some of the kids too. He felt restless, and sick, and desperate to either talk to Vic or be on his own somewhere. He tried to hang out with James, because they usually got along so well, but the age gap between them seemed more stark than ever when Teddy was trying to convince himself that he was an adult, really. 

Not long after dinner, when the kids were running riot upstairs and the adults were laughing in the kitchen, Harry took Teddy into the quiet, seemingly empty living room and sat in the armchair while Teddy picked at the mantlepiece, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. 

‘Teddy,’ Harry said gently, ‘what’s going on?’ 

‘Nothing,’ Teddy said reluctantly, recognising with deep unhappiness how childish he sounded even saying that. 

‘I’m not stupid, Ted, Andromeda and I raised you and both of us have always been able to tell when something’s up - your hair’s fine,’ he added, as Teddy raised his hand to it. ‘I just know you. I know when you’re hiding something.’ 

‘I’m not hiding anything,’ said Teddy. ‘Vic and I just want a bit of time to ourselves, all right? That’s all it is, it’s just about us getting to spend some time together before she goes off-’

‘I thought she wasn’t going to Paris?’ said Harry, raising an eyebrow.

‘She’s not, but you know what I mean, I just want to spend time with her without everyone having a go at us all the time, there’s nothing going on-’

‘Teddy,’ said Harry sharply, clearly becoming impatient, ‘if there’s something you’re worried about or need to tell me, you should tell me.’

‘No - it’s nothing - I - I’m just thinking a lot about life and my career and stuff.’ 

‘What?’ said Harry, with the same confusion he had shown in the restaurant. ‘What are you talking about? Your writing’s great, you’ve never-’

‘I just think it might be time for me to grow up a bit,’ Teddy mumbled, staring intently at the grooves of the wooden mantlepiece as he picked at it. 

‘Teddy,’ said Harry in a low voice. 

‘You know, loads of people have stupid ideas about what they want to be, but there comes a point you just have to accept that you need to have a proper job, not just piss about-’

‘Ted-’

‘And I could always do it on the side, it’s not like I need to spend all my time doing it, we can’t always just do what we want, can we?’ 

‘Te-’

‘Just, get off my back about it,’ Teddy snapped at him, storming out as Harry called ‘Edward’ after him. 

Teddy blazed past the adults still laughing in the kitchen and headed straight for the tents, utterly exhausted and stiff feeling. He threw himself onto his camp bed and slept through the rest of the evening and all through the night. 

The next day, he sheepishly avoided Harry, wondering if he was going to make him apologise, but Harry acted as though nothing had happened at all, which in some ways was worse. He cheerfully offered him the marmalade at breakfast and told him about how he was planning to plant a quince tree at the bottom of the garden, then tried to pull Teddy into the conversation as he explained to Scorpius what a quince was. 

Then he dragged himself out to join them on a morning walk, and Harry walked alongside him talking about Quidditch and pretending to ignore how Teddy was only answering with ‘hmm’ and ‘yeah’ and ‘really?’ 

But at lunch it finally slipped out. The plan that had been forming in the back of Teddy’s mind was finally able to be launched as he sat himself near Percy, Vic on his other side. Harry sat nearby too, and though Teddy initially assumed it was so he could fuss over baby Lucy, he quickly discovered it was to keep an eye on him. 

‘Percy,’ Ted asked, hoping he sounded grown up, ‘how are things in your department?’ 

‘Oh, jolly good,’ said Percy pompously. ‘We’re working on a fascinating new regulation that will…’ 

He started droning on and on about something to do with tax and pension contributions that Teddy found he was forgetting even while he was saying it, but he nodded politely and tried to feign interest. 

‘I don’t suppose there are any job openings coming up, are there?’ he asked Percy. ‘I’m looking-’

‘Ted,’ Harry blurted out, bouncing the baby on his knee, ‘what is going on? Why are you giving up on your dream of being a writer?’ 

Vic immediately gave a choked sob - Teddy hadn’t even realised she had been listening to his conversation with Percy, let alone getting emotional. She fled from the room, swiftly followed by Fleur. Teddy could feel many pairs of eyes on him, and he moodily shoved his brie and grape sandwich into his mouth so that he didn’t have to answer any questions. 

He could feel Harry’s eyes on him again, could hear baby Lucy grizzling, could hear whispers and mutters. Lily loudly asked what was wrong with Vic, and Bill growled back that she still wasn’t feeling well. 

The rest of the lunch was extremely tense - nobody quite seemed brave enough to say anything, and Teddy was glad when Harry was distracted handing the baby back to Audrey, as it meant he was able to slip away without Harry being able to say anything to him. 

He went to follow Vic, but he could hear tearful sniffs and rapid French behind the door, too quick for him to understand, so he backed away and found a quiet room to stare moodily out of the window from. 

She would tell her now, surely. She had to. There was no way they could keep it hidden. Not when everyone was piled on top of each other like this and his bloody hair constantly gave him away. 

And he wasn’t sure if it was just him imagining it, but all the adults seemed to be glancing at him now, curious little concerned looks and carefully gentle words. It prickled him with guilt, and it frustrated him because he wasn’t able to go back and get an answer from Percy. 

It had always seem fine, before, to take a risk and just try and write and not worry too much about money, because he had a net to fall back on, because Harry was always happy to lend him money and if worse came to the worse he could always just move back in with Nana. He’d had the freedom to do what he wanted, he’d never felt the pressure to focus on earnings, and he supposed in some ways he had been spoilt. He had believed, foolishly, that he had understood a little of what his father must have felt every time Vic suggested they move in together and he had to awkwardly point out he couldn’t afford to only split rent between two, but that mild embarrassment wasn’t anything compared to the sudden terror that had gripped his stomach, the shame that seemed to be repeatedly kicking him in the kidneys and jeering at him, spitting in his face as it told him that he was irresponsible and would never be able to support a wife and child. 

Harry’s parents had been about his age when they got pregnant with him, he remembered when he was old enough to do some quick maths at the grave and talked with Harry about how young they had been. And, of course, Harry himself had been more grown up than he was by the time he was twelve. 

But Teddy had never wanted for anything, never been unhappy - not truly - had only a few minor brushes with danger and then, always, there had been an adult to swoop in and save the day and comfort him afterwards. He did not have the responsibility or maturity that his parents had had, or Harry and Ginny, or any of them. That his limited means had never bothered him before was proof of that. 

At dinner, he sat next to Vic again, and under the hum of conversation, he quietly muttered out of the corner of his mouth. ‘Did you tell?’ 

‘No. Did you?’ 

‘No.’ 

And then all the way through dinner, he thought about how “telling” was something children did. 

When he went back to the tent, he couldn’t even find it in himself to snigger with Al and Scorpius about the dirty magazine they had found shoved down the side of Hugo’s camp bed. 

The next day, he was determined to distract himself and not think about any of it, agreeing to play Quidditch with them all. He got ten minutes in before Roxy collided with him, threw him off balance, and sent him spinning to the ground. Where he had held out his hand to break his fall was now an intense, burning pain, which got worse when he tried to move it. 

‘It’s sprained,’ he told Harry as he helped him up, being very used to recognising injuries caused by his own lack of balance. 

‘Is he all right?’ Vic was sobbing, and the children were looking at her as though she was mad. ‘Is he OK? Teddy?’ 

Harry raised an eyebrow. ‘He’s fine,’ he said calmly. ‘You’re all right, aren’t you, Ted?’ 

‘Yeah,’ said Teddy, staring at his overemotional girlfriend. ‘It’s just a sprain, Vic.’ 

Harry healed it easily and, though it was still tender, assured Teddy it would be back to normal in a few hours. Teddy was grateful, because flying was all well and good when it was just zooming along, but he was never much good at the sharp maneuvers and coordination required of Quidditch, and he was perfectly happy to squeeze into the living room with the whole family and be forced to listen to the adults get emotional and the warbling songs of Celestina Warbeck. 

‘And then I said wingardium leviosa,’ Ron was saying to a bored collection of children, ‘and because she had corrected my pronunciation, I got it right! The club soared up into the air-’

Angelina poured more wine into his glass for him, and cast a friendly gaze over his face. ‘You all right, Ted?’ 

‘Yeah,’ he said hoarsely.

‘You look just like your dad with your hair like that.’ 

‘Oh.’ He reached up to touch his hair as he realised it must have gone sandy brown again, but when people pointed it out with a mention of his dad he always felt it was a bit heartless to immediately change it back. ‘Thanks.’ 

‘I was thinking about him the other day, Fred was telling me about his exams coming up and I remembered your dad did the most interesting final year exam I ever had-’

He hummed and nodded politely as she told him all about the obstacle course his father had set up for them, and wished he could find Harry later and say, ‘I had another one of those orphan moments,’ but all he kept thinking about was Vic and how he had spotted her pouring her own drink out a little bit at a time to hide that she wasn’t drinking, and he knew by the time he got Harry on his own he would have entirely forgotten what Angelina was saying. He picked at the buffet-style dinner on his lap, once again feeling anything but hungry. 

Molly was tearfully recounting a story about George and his brother Fred, and Fleur was loudly suggesting to Bill they do Christmas in France next year, and Ginny was mischievously smothering a humiliated looking Hugo in kisses, having spotted him under the mistletoe. It was the sort of Christmas Teddy usually loved, but he excused himself from Angelina and went out to the kitchen, where he stood by the sink and stared out into the garden. 

Everything he had been worrying about for days swirled around his head, rising and rising as though the room itself was shrinking in on him. 

He wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there, but he heard a voice asking if he was OK and he jumped, spotting Hugo grumpily carrying two whiskey glasses, his diary held awkwardly under his arm. 

‘I’m fine,’ he croaked. 

Hugo looked at him shrewdly. ‘Are you still worried about your career?’ 

Teddy stared at him, resisting the temptation to yell, ‘what career? I’ve published one novel, that’s not a career!’ Instead, he just looked down at the teenager, the oddest of the bunch, and said, ‘you like me, right, Hugo?’ 

Hugo looked incredibly awkward - more so than usual. ‘Erm… I do.’ 

‘Do you think I’m responsible?’ 

Hugo chortled. ‘Teddy, no one in this family is responsible, except for my mum. And maybe Uncle Percy.’ 

Teddy just nodded. He hadn’t really been expecting a reassuring answer from Hugo of all people, but even so… 

‘Is this about you and Victoire doing sex?’ 

‘Excuse me?’ Teddy spluttered. ‘What are you-?’

‘Look, Teddy,’ said Hugo, in that ludicrously grown up voice he always tried, ‘I am a man of the world. I’m no prude. I will be fourteen in a matter of months, and I understand that it’s socially and morally acceptable to have sex when you’re not married. But it seems to me that you and Vic have been rather upset lately, and I wonder if it’s because you haven’t realised the significance that comes with making love. You really shouldn’t do it if you’re not mature enough to understand it, or you’re not sure you’re in love, and you certainly shouldn’t be doing it without the blessing of Uncle Bill and Auntie Fleur.’ 

You little shit, Teddy wanted to say, but instead all he could say was, ‘yeah, well, you shouldn’t be hiding dirty magazines in a tent shared by seven people.’

Hugo went scarlet from the tips of his ears down, and jerked his head awkwardly. ‘Suit yourself then,’ he said, his voice a little higher than usual, and he scurried off. 

It was finally Christmas day, in what was possibly the longest Teddy had ever felt he had stayed at the Burrow for. So much had happened since he had cheerfully arrived with his suitcase and been squeezed tightly by Molly, that he felt as though he had possibly been there for several years. 

They did presents in the morning, all of them in their pyjamas with glasses of bucks fizz and smoked salmon bagels, and Harry did a good job of laughing at James’s Potterwatch mug while Lily squealed in delight over the charm bracelet Teddy had bought her, and Vic smiled with amusement as Esther, blushing madly, gave Teddy a glitter handmade Christmas card, which thankfully didn’t have a poem in. He could see Hugo scowling in the corner, and supposed he had not been impressed with his quill set. 

Molly started making the Christmas dinner early, getting fiercely frustrated every time someone tried to help. Teddy, who had long learnt to leave her to it and enjoy the fruits of her labour, was only walking through to fetch more bucks fizz on Percy’s request, but found himself slipping on something greasy as he crossed the kitchen. 

He went flying backwards and whacked his head painfully on the side, his vision erupting in stars. Confused and dizzy, he heard Molly shouting at someone about olive oil, and a few pairs of hands hauling him up. 

‘Here we go-’

‘Got him-’

‘All right, Ted? Utility room, I think, there’s enough light in there-’

He found himself weirdly focusing on the floor, his feet light as two men guided him into the little room where everyone kept their coats and shoes and there was a big enchanted mangle that seemed to always be running. He was sat down on a stool, and George’s face was squinting at him as he grasped his chin and tilted his head back. ‘Yeah, a bit concussed, I think.’ 

‘All right. I’ve got him from here,’ came Harry’s calm voice. ‘Check there’s no more oil on the floor, won’t you?’ 

He felt Harry standing behind him, his hands parting his hair, and heard the murmur of healing spells as a wand tip pressed against his head. His vision was starting to clear already, everything making a little more sense, like a fog had been lifted. 

‘All right, Ted?’ 

‘That actually wasn’t my fault for once,’ said Teddy grumpily, and Harry chuckled. 

‘How are you feeling otherwise?’ Harry asked quietly. Teddy knew immediately what he meant, and swallowed. He wanted to tell him. He really did. 

‘Fine,’ he said. 

‘Teddy,’ said Harry, exasperated. ‘Come on. You’ve never been like this. I wish you would just tell me what’s up.’ 

‘Nothing’s up,’ said Teddy, trying not to let his voice crack. ‘Nothing… Nothing I want to talk about now, anyway.’ 

There was something painfully understanding about Harry’s voice when he spoke again, and even though he wasn’t looking at him, Teddy was sure he knew exactly what was going on. ‘Look, you know that if you’re ever worried about money I’ve got you covered, that’s what I’m here for. If you ever need a place to live, I have an entire house I don’t know what to do with; you know Grimmauld Place is always available-’

‘I… I don’t need charity,’ Teddy blurted out, who embarrassingly felt close to tears. 

‘It’s not cha-’ Harry suddenly sighed, and Teddy looked up to see Hugo’s face, peering through the door. Hugo realised they were looking and vanished. ‘It’s not charity,’ Harry continued, moving round to stand in front of Teddy, who couldn’t quite find the strength to look up at him. He touched the back of his head to feel the lump gone, but did not stand from the stool. ‘You’re not a charity case, you’re my godson.’ He paused, his voice grew quieter. ‘You’re my child. It’s not charity in a family. You’ll know this when you have your own children.’ 

Teddy swallowed, and looked away from Harry’s intense gaze. ‘I’m fine,’ he said hollowly. ‘I… I’ve just got Christmas blues.’ 

Harry sighed again, took a step forward and hugged Teddy. Teddy was not sure if it made him feel better or not - one the one hand, having Harry cradle his head against his chest and kiss the top of his head was exactly the sort of comfort he had been craving, but on the other hand it felt like yet another example of how he was still almost definitely a child. ‘Come to me when you’re ready,’ said Harry. 

Teddy let Harry go first, and then sat there alone for a long time before he made his way back into the steamy kitchen, sidestepping Molly who was looking particularly frazzled. 

‘Nana,’ Dom was saying, ‘can I help-?’

‘No!’ bellowed Molly. ‘Go and sit down and enjoy yourself!’ 

Teddy was about to head into the living room, but he was so busy looking over his shoulder at Molly and Dom, that he collided, hard, into someone. 

‘Oof!’ 

‘Ted!’ Vic squeaked, as they untangled themselves. ‘Are you all right? I heard you banged your head-’

He didn’t answer her, just took her by the hand, and led her back into the kitchen, unseen by Molly focusing on her roast potatoes, and pulled her into the pantry. 

Once in there, in the stuffy little cupboard, he turned to her, and cupped her face in his hands, a little more roughly than was usual. ‘I’m really scared,’ he said. 

‘I am too-’

‘But we’ll be all right, we’ll find a way.’ 

Her eyes filled with tears, and she sighed in relief. ‘I was so worried you were changing your mind.’ 

He kissed her. ‘We’ll tell your parents, all right?’ he said as they broke apart. ‘Together, we’ll tell them, once all this madness is over, the second I’ve got a job, we’ll sit them down and tell them.’ 

‘Teddy,’ she said, openly weeping, but he placed his hand on her stomach. 

‘We’ll be all right,’ he urged her. ‘We will, we-’

The door opened, and they both froze, turning to see who it was. It was fucking Hugo again, Teddy was ready to kick him. 

Hugo stared at them both, and then backed out. Vic cried even harder. ‘Well everyone will know now anyway,’ she said. 

‘No,’ he muttered. ‘If any kid was going to walk in on us, I’m glad it was him, he’s the most oblivious boy I’ve ever met.’ He looked back at her, and then kissed her again. ‘I promise it will be OK.’ 

‘I love you,’ she said. 

‘I love you too.’ 

By the time Christmas dinner was served, they had pulled themselves together, ready to put on a joyful, merry, Christmassy front. They sat beside one another (somehow fucking Hugo ended up opposite! How?!) and cheered with everyone else as they pulled the crackers, and Teddy made Lily squeal with glee as he turned his hair glitter gold to match his glittering red hat, and he shouted down the table at James when James took the last chipolata, and he laughed as Molly scolded George and Ron for exchanging rude limericks over the table. 

‘Christmas pudding,’ announced Arthur, at the end of the meal. ‘And then we’ll play that game, the one where you have a famous person written on your head-’

‘I’m putting a ban on my name being written on my head,’ said Harry. ‘I’m sick of it, you lot, it was funny the first year-’

‘It’s funny every year,’ insisted Ron. 

‘Are we going to set the Christmas pudding on fire?’ asked Fred, with a slightly dangerous grin on his face. 

‘That’s the tradition, son,’ boomed George, flicking his wand. A large bottle of brandy appeared and slid casually down the table. ‘Drown it in brandy, try your best to incinerate it because no one actually likes eating it.’ 

‘It’s funny we use brandy,’ said Hermione. ‘Any alcohol would do, wouldn’t it?’ 

Molly chuckled. ‘Ooh, brandy’s one of those things I only ever have at Christmas. But do you remember Great Aunt Muriel?’ 

‘Vividly,’ said Hermione, but Molly didn’t seem to notice. 

‘She used to get through a bottle a week. Always said it was to soothe her stomach.’ 

Arthur returned with the pudding, as they all sang the song and banged the table, and then there were cheers and excited yelps from the kids as they dimmed the lights and set it on fire. 

The cheers calmed down to quieter chatter as the puddings were served up, and Teddy heard the gulping slop of a drink being poured. It was Hugo, pouring a sizable amount of brandy into a glass tumbler, which he slid towards Vic. 

‘Here you are, Vic,’ he said in a kind, but very loud voice. 

‘Er, no thank you, Hugh,’ she said. 

‘It will help soothe your stomach,’ he said, again, very loudly. Teddy felt, rather than saw, heads turn. 

Vic’s porcelain cheeks went a rosy pink, and she laughed awkwardly. ‘There’s nothing wrong with my stomach,’ she said. 

‘Well what was Teddy rubbing your stomach earlier then?’ Hugo asked, and Teddy would have thrown something at him if he hadn’t frozen in horror. But Hugo wasn’t finished. ‘Is it to do with the secret conversation you had in the orchard?’ 

Teddy stared down at his plate, feeling the silence around him like the roar of a waterfall. He wanted to scream and swear and launch himself at Hugo. ‘I want my four galleons back,’ he muttered to him. 

There was a clatter as Fleur threw down her spoon. ‘Bon sang! Pourquoi tu n’admets pas que tu es enceinte?’ she demanded, her face livid. 

Teddy’s French was average at best, but he knew immediately what it meant. The kneazle was out of the bag. 

‘It’s time to come clean, Teddy,’ said Harry quietly. 

Teddy took a breath, still staring at his plate. ‘We…’ he glanced at Vic, who gave the tiniest of nods, her lips pressed tightly together. ‘Vic’s pregnant,’ he said at last. ‘There’s a baby… On the way.’ He heard Lily’s dramatic gasp, and Al hushing her. ‘That’s… That’s why Vic isn’t going to Paris anymore.’ 

‘Oh, what are the pair of you like?’ said Ginny, exasperated - she didn’t look at all surprised. ‘Why did you have to keep this a secret?’ 

Teddy glanced uneasily at Bill, feeling sure he was about to explode with fury. Currently, he looked rather stunned, so Teddy said, with a pleading edge to his voice, ‘I wanted to make sure I was, you know… Sorted first. With money and everything.’

Bill gave an odd, jerking nod. ‘How long?’ he asked gruffly. 

‘Two months, I think,’ said Vic, her voice wobbling slightly. ‘I… Found out the day before I got here. And I’m sorry, Dad,’ she said, suddenly sounding firmer, ‘I know you worked hard to get me that internship, but… I’ve made my decision, and I’m staying here and having this baby.’ 

Bill visibly swallowed. ‘You’re making me a grandfather?’ 

Teddy seemed to hold his breath, but Bill suddenly smiled and covered his face in his hand, his shoulders shaking. A wave of relief hit Teddy like the surge of a river, and, the tension broken, he was immediately surrounding excited squeals from the women and booming laughs from the men and a barrage of questions from the kids. Vic vanished beneath a high pitched, excitable pile of Fleur, Molly, and Dom, while George was gripping Bill’s shoulders and laughing as he shook him slightly. 

Teddy was pulled up and out of his chair by Ron and was quickly embraced by his godfather, who clapped him on the shoulder, grinning broadly. ‘You plonker,’ he said. ‘This is wonderful news. What were you so terrified of everyone for?’ 

‘I… I dunno, we thought people would be angry-’

‘You’re adults, after all,’ said Harry. 

‘I don’t feel like an adult,’ Teddy blurted out. ‘I feel totally unprepared.’ 

‘It’s always that way with your first,’ said Ginny, pulling him down to kiss his face, beaming with pride. ‘Teddy, we’re thrilled for you, for both of you. We’re going to help you out, you don’t need to worry.’

Indeed, if felt mildly ridiculous, now that he was being poured champagne and embraced by each adult in turn. He should have known by now that this family, this huge, noisy, nosy family, were always going to be delighted to grow a little bit more.


End file.
